It's an article I'd been waiting for. An article that would take us into the world of the enforcer--the pressures, the pain and the adverse effects--through the eyes of player who lived it.
It was all that, and then some.
When word that Wade Belak was found dead, the onslaught of opinion concerning enforcers in the NHL would immediately come from every corner of the NHL community.
Many pieces written on Belak generally steered clear of directly linking his death with those of fellow enforcers Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien, but most made sure to mention that there could be a possible link. And some NHL columnists, either subtly or overtly, mixed in anti-fighting opinions while editorializing about this summer's tragedies.
TSN's Bob McKenzie focused upon the passing of an outwardly "happy and well-adjusted" Belak, yet brought up all three and seemed to indirectly link them by not directly linking them:
"Like Boogaard, Rypien, and for that matter journeyman pro and ex-San Jose Shark Tom Cavanagh, whose mental health issues led to his suicide in mid-January, the death of Belak will impact the NHL and hockey community on every level.
There will no doubt be some hard questions asked of the NHL and NHL Players' Association in the wake of the death of three NHL tough guys in less than four months. Many will be looking for a link between the jobs Boogaard, Rypien and Belak did and what role it may have played in their deaths. Ultimately, those are questions that do need to be asked, though in a measured manner without leaping to unfounded conclusions based on wild speculation."
The Buffalo News' Jerry Sullivan did the right thing when he brought in former Sabres enforcer, Rob Ray, for some insight.
Sullivan tried, but he could not suppress his anti-fighting sentiment, though:
"After Belak's death, there was a cry to avoid jumping to conclusions and lumping the three deaths together. Each man's death is a separate and distinct tragedy, and it's an easy leap to implicate hockey fighting as the underlying cause.
Still, it would be naive to ignore the parallels (he lays out the role of the fighter as well as blows to the head and depression)...So if it's coincidence, it's a profound one."
Later in the column he jumped on his soapbox:
"The NHL needs to acknowledge that primitive enforcing has consequences. The league has been progressive in dealing with concussions. But it needs to take a hard look at the psychological effects of fighting. Maybe it's time to legislate fighting out of the game by making it a game misconduct, instead of a five-minute penalty."
Sullivan keeps it surface-level for the most part, and Ray doesn't delve too deeply into the issues facing the modern day enforcer, although he does focus on the emotional toll of a borderline NHL'er--especially an easily replaced fighter--trying to keep his job in the NHL.
Four days before the Sullivan column, immediately after Belak's death, Greg Wyshynski, Yahoo's Puck Daddy, did a piece, Remembering Wade Belak, A True NHL Fan Favorite.
He delved into the "mischievous charisma" of a very likeable Belak and touches on the losses Belak's family incurred. Wyshynski also foresees the Sullivan-like soapboxes being erected and lashes out: "So now it's the summer of Boogaard and Rypien and Belak, and the only people more annoying than the ones drawing conclusions about hockey based on these deaths are the ones fretting around those conclusions being drawn. It's a trend, it's a tragedy; hockey fans can already hear the ticking clock of '60 Minutes' preparing some sweeping condemnation of the NHL for allowing these deaths to occur."
After getting that out, he brings up something that hadn't, and still hasn't, gained alot of attention: prescription meds, specifically--Oxycotin.
Wyshynski brings in a hockey voice who has struggled with depression for a long time, Theo Fleury. Fleury tweeted this upon hearing of Belak's death: "Oxycotin is a synthetic heroine the side effect and the crash after would make anyone depressed."
And another tweet from the Wyshynski piece, from TSN's Darren Dreger upon hearing the news: "Get rid of writing prescriptions for Oxycotin's, the most dangerous drug on the planet."
Those were two immediate reactions to the death of Wade Belak.
From the day that Belak was found dead, August 31 until yesterday, September 5, I cannot recall a piece that provided anything that either delved deeply into the world of the enforcer or the use painkillers by these pugilists. That was until Wyshynski's Puck Headlines provided a link to an interview with a former NHL tough guy: Men's Health interview with former tough-guy/enforcer, Riley Cote.
Because Men's Health News is not within the inner circle of NHL journalism, the author, Mike Darling, has no reason to lump the three deaths together and/or jump on an anti-fighting soap box, although both ideas are inevitably touched upon. Darling provides the reader with a simple question and answer piece complete with full quotations from Cote.
In the interview, Cote doesn't hesitate when he says that fighting "played a big part in my decision to retire. It’s not natural to fight 82 times a year."
The physical wear and tear is obvious, but Cote added that there's more to it, "People say it's hard on the body, but I think it's more mentally draining than physically."
Cote talks about the ups and downs of his role about why he did it and, surprisingly, spends a good amount of time talking about the world of painkillers.
Prescription painkillers can take care of the physical ailments, and just as there's more to the enforcer role than just the surface-level, physical toll, there's also deeper, emotional aspect to their use. "These painkillers mask your emotional pain," he said, "They kill your ability to feel. Things that would normally bother you don’t bother you anymore."
This physical/emotional numbing through pills is readily available, he said, to any player who needs/wants it. Meds can be prescribed by the team doctor or found on the black market, the former being a part of a non-sports-specific culture, "Modern medicine," he said, "is all about popping pills. It's socially acceptable,"
Having "been against pharmaceutical drugs for some time now," Cote alludes to a problem that doesn't lie within the role of the enforcer, "At the end of the day," he said, "the NHL is fighting the pharmaceutical industry."
With the pharmaceutical industry as large and powerful as it is, any mention of painkillers in a negative light would have a hard time reaching the masses through the NHL, the NHLPA and/or the big media outlets.
I understand that the interview with Cote is presented through the lens of men's health. A healthy mind and body are the directives of the magazine. But when you combine Cote's understanding of painkillers with the tweets of Fleury and Dreger condemning Oxycotin, the ire of these three inside the world of professional hockey is directed at squarely at pharmaceuticals. It's not directed at the NHL, the NHLPA, the player, the role of the enforcer and/or the effects of fighting.
The major media was, is, and will continue to focus upon those surface issues while looking for links to the three deaths this summer. But maybe, instead, they should start looking towards players like Cote who may have summed it up for them, "Any time you mix stress and personal issues with chemicals, and put it in a blender, bad things will happen."
He would know.
No comments:
Post a Comment